Secondary names

Magnesium carbonate; Mg carbonate

IMA Code

Mgs

CAS number

39409-82-0

	Formula	Name	Family	Number min-max	Isotope mole fraction	State	Relevance
	$Mg^{2+}$	Magnesium(II) cation	element	1		constituent cation	main
	$(CO_3)^{2-}$	Carbonate anion	chemical function	1		anionic radical	main

Chemical functions

	Function	Number
	$(CO_3)^{2-}$	1

Chemical bonds

	Bond	Number
	$\cdot Mg^{2+} \cdot O^{-}-$	2
	$\dddot - \dddot - C \dddot - O^{-2/3}$	3

Oxides

Formula	$MgO$	$CO_{2}$
Mass fraction (%)	47.8	52.2

Strunz

Class

carbonates - nitrates (05)

Division

carbonates without additional anions, without H2O (05.A)

Family

Alkali-earth (and other M2+) carbonates (05.AB)

Code

05.AB.05

Dana

Major class

carbonates, nitrates, borates (V)

Class

anhydrous carbonates (14)

Type

with simple formula A+CO3 (14.01)

Group

Calcite group (Trigonal: R-3c) (14.01.01)

Code

14.01.01.02

Phase type

crystalline

Crystal system

trigonal

Crystal class

ditrigonal-scalenohedral

Crystal class symbol

-3m (D3d)

Crystal spacegroup

R-3c

Refringence type

uniaxial

Refringence sign

negative

Birefringence

0.191

Refraction index $n_o$ (w)

1.700

Refraction index $n_e$ (e)

1.509

Dispersion V

very strong

Pure color

colorless

Color

colorless, white, yellow, brown

Diaphaneity

transparent to translucent

Luster

vitreous

Links

• Wikipedia: Magnesite
• Webmineral database: Magnesite
• Mindat: Magnesite
• Handbook of Mineralogy (Min. Soc. Am): Magnesite